From The Daily Dialogue
From The Daily Dialogue
Broadcast of 6/25/98
Subject: [DailyDialogue #174] Death
"This is the Hour of Lead --
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow --
First -- Chill -- then Stupor -- then the letting go -- ."
- Emily Dickinson
Henry David Thoreau wrote a letter in 1842 to Lucy Brown, sister-in-law of Ralph Waldo Emerson, following the death first of Thoreau’s brother and then Emerson’s son. He said, "Soon the ice will melt, and the blackbirds sing along the river ... as pleasantly as ever. The same everlasting serenity will appear in this face of God and we will not be sorrowful..."
It can be a chilling experience to have a death of a relationship whether through transition from this plane of existence or through coming apart emotionally. Emily Dickenson refers to it as the hour of lead.
When I first learned to scuba dive, I discovered that we use lead weights to help us see the underwater world. When I put the weight belt around my waist outside the water, it felt very heavy and it was difficult to walk. When I jumped in the water, I no longer felt the weight. As I waited in one spot underwater for my teacher to test me, I felt scared, chilled and paralyzed.
In my divorce, I was weighted down and frozen by the denial, anger, guilt and depression. As I dove into my healing, I saw that I was supported, I was safe and able to let go. In scuba diving, I began to experience an astounding abundance of rapturous beauty in a submerged habitat. Yes, there is life after death.
Experiment: Dialogue about your experience of loss of relationships.
Affirmation: I am letting go of the old and opening to new life.
The Daily Dialogue is published each day of 1998 by e-mail. Copyright 1998, Eddy Brame and Marty Crouch, All rights reserved.
